Note of the Month: Netherlands Antilles 500 Gulden

Posted on 3/25/2025

With the Netherlands Antilles Guilder about to be phased out, we take a look back at an early banknote representing this currency.

Click images to enlarge.

Country: Netherlands Antilles

Catalog Number: 7a

Date: 1962

Denomination: 500 Gulden

Varieties: The PMG Population Report contains both issued notes and Specimens for this catalog number, the only one of this denomination, which was the highest ever issued for the Netherlands Antilles Guilder or a predecessor, the Curacao Guilder.

What makes it special? Curacao and Sint Maarten, which are constituent countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, are about to phase out the Netherlands Antilles Guilder, which has been in use for decades under that name. The new currency will be called the Caribbean Guilder, a nod to the sea that borders both countries.

Did you know? Curacao, just north of Venezuela, became a Spanish colony in 1499 and was colonized by the Dutch in 1634. Meanwhile, in the first half of the 17th century, the Spanish and Dutch vied for control of the island of Saint Martin, east of Puerto Rico. After the Eighty Years War, the Spanish lost interest in Saint Martin, which today is split between French Saint-Martin and Dutch Sint Maarten.

Total graded by PMG: As of mid-March 2025, the PMG Population Report includes 133 issued examples of Pick# 7a and 10 Specimens.

PMG median grade: PMG 66 Gem Uncirculated EPQ

PMG highest graded: PMG 68 Superb Gem Uncirculated EPQ for Pick# 7a and PMG 67 Superb Gem Uncirculated EPQ for Pick# 7s.

Sales highlights: A Pick# 7a in the median grade of PMG 66 Gem Uncirculated EPQ realized $666 in January 2019, while an example graded PMG 67 Gem Uncirculated EPQ realized $552 in September 2023. Additionally, a Pick# 7s graded PMG 62 Uncirculated realized $252 in October 2023. All these sales were through Heritage Auctions.

PMG Registry: This note is part of the Netherlands Antilles, 1962-Date, P1-Date, Type Set category in the PMG Registry, where the first-place set, Brufe's AB's Netherland Antilles Notes, has a Pick #7a graded PMG 66 Gem Uncirculated EPQ. The third-place set, skyguy's Nederlandse Antillen, also has a note in the same grade.

Previous Notes of the Month:


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